Importance Of N.Z. Trade Mission To Australians

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28868, 13 April 1959, Page 13

Importance Of N.Z. Trade Mission To Australians

(N.Z Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, April 12. The success of the current New Zealand trade mission was important not only to exporters but to the Australian man in the street, the leader of the mission, Mr Woolf Fisher, said in an Australiawide broadcast tonight. “It is important to the man in the street that Australia has an expanding market in New Zealand, and for Australia to have that, we must have an expanding market in Australia,” he said. Mr Fisher was speaking on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s guest of honour programme. Mr Fisher said it had been suggested many times in the last two or three years that New Zealand should not worry about its imbalance of trade with Australia; that the only thing that mattered was the overall result of New Zealand’s trade with all countries. “But other countries with whom we have a favourable

balance of trade do not share this point of view.” he said. “Among countries with whom we have a favourable balance of trade are the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States and Japan. They are the countries from whom we earn the funds with which to bridge the gap in our trade with Australia. “But some of these good customers of ours seem less and less willing to help us buy from Australia things which they themselves could supply. They think we should buy more from them, and they have been putting pressure on us to do so.” He continued: “We have not come to Australia with any idea that this trading gap between us can be closed. Plainly it is not possible. We don’t think that your exports to us should be held at the present level. On the contrary we expect them to expand. “We do seek to reduce the gap. At present, the balance is four to one in your favour. We would like to see it at say, two to one. We aim to increase our exports to you by £5.000.000 in the next 12 months and then to £5O million a year in 10 years.

“That is what we have come here for. We don’t expect any overnight change. It will take time. But we must succeed in selling rqore to you, if we in New Zealand are to provide you with the expanding market you want.”